Denver Nuggets / NBA

Paige: Bryant's 41 make loud statement

Lakers star Kobe Bryant drives to the basket Saturday night at the Pepsi Center in the third quarter of Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. Bryant torched the Nuggets for 41 points.
(John Leyba, The Denver Post
)

It's not enough that Los Angeles has been stealing water from Colorado since the 1940s. Now the City of Angelina Jolies is stealing inbounds passes, stealing games in the Western Conference finals, stealing the yearnings of every Nuggets stalwart in Colorado.

Kobe is not the most-liked person in Colorado, for a variety of reasons, and his popularity took another hit here Saturday night as he put another hurt on the Nuggets in this Western Conference finals.

He hushed the crowd.

What else is old?

Bryant gutted in a 3-pointer with 1:09 left to give the Lakers the lead for good . . . er, bad . . . then made 5-of-6 free throws as the Nuggets lost momentum, a second game and the arc.

Bryant was very softspoken in the opening quarter, with only two baskets. The longer the game went, the louder he got.

As he sank the trey and heard nothing, "that was a great feeling," Bryant said. "It's a much better feeling actually than being at home and hearing the roar of the crowd. You enjoy it a lot more because everyone is against you. Everybody's wanting you to lose. And when you hit a shot like and everybody goes quiet, it feels good. It feels real good."

The sounds of silence. Hello, darkness, Nuggets.

Of course, for the second time in three games, the Nuggets couldn't get the ball inbounds in a late, crucial situation.

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Fire the inbounds assistant coach, or draw up another play, George Karl.

But, even if the Nuggets can get the ball in, Kobe is still hanging around.

He had 40 points in Game 1, 41 in Game 3. Monotonous. Oh, that's right. Only 33 in Game 2.

There had been opinions advanced in L.A. that Kobe just wasn't up to the nightly task and putting the Lakers on his back and hauling them. Then, Bryant believer Jerry West suggested that LeBron James was today's greatest player. Then, James hit the game-winning 3-pointer for Cleveland on Friday night. Then, Bryant congratulated James in a text, or a Twitter, or maybe a natter.

Kobe responded to critics, chums and chumps — again. He didn't wait to the last second, just the last 69 seconds. Your tweet, LeBron.

This guy is good — nine career 40-point playoff games, two in this series.

He had the ball against Denver's J.R. Smith with the Lakers down by two points (95-93), and here we go in a Rome-Carthage kind of series.

J.R. Smith on Kobe. Even with four good legs, Smith normally couldn't stay on the same block with Bryant. But he has defended Bryant well in spurts and took a vital charge in Game 2. Kobe soared against Smith, and Smith got some ball, some arm.

"That shot — well, I would like to say I meant to do it," Bryant said. "But, to be honest with you, the shot was going to be short. It was going to be well short, and (Smith) got the ball, arm, whatever, and I had to put a little more effort into the shot. Had to kick it a little more. And so it went in."

And so it goes.

Bryant admitted he is weary, wearing down. He looked exhausted at game's end. "It's a little bit of everything. I haven't had a break for three years."

Carmelo Anthony, who had matched Kobe basketball for basket in the first two games, couldn't keep up in Game 3. He fouled out and finished with 21 points.

And the Nuggets kept fouling Kobe, even when they had him trapped in the corner late, and he was wanting to pass and 20 seconds left in the game.

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The Nuggets, honestly, did not play well, or passionately, in the most meaningful home game in . . . in forever, almost since Colorado had to give California water. They seemed more interested in complaining to the officials, and shooting awful shots.

And here again from Kobe. "I rank this right up there with some of the biggest road wins we've had since I've been a Laker, because in the past we always had guys that had a lot of experience. . . . For our guys, this is brand-new. Last year we weren't tested like this."

The Nuggets know. They didn't test the Lakers in four playoff games last year.

This victory for the Lakers, after they lost the home-court edge in Game 2, was a "major gut check," Kobe said.

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